Cell No 10
by Hekateras
Summary: For a young maid, discovering secrets she is not meant to know can bring about madness, chaos and death.


Cell No 10

I couldn't always see them. Of course, in my early childhood I, like all other children, was still wary of the shadows that lurked in my room at night... but that's got nothing to do with it... Eventually the shadows disappeared and I convinced myself, as does everyone else, that it were naught but my imagination. Now, however, I always wonder...

But the shadows came back.

I don't rightly remember when. All I recall is that I had an accident of some sort. When I woke up, I had bandages on my head, and I couldn't think straight. How old was I? It couldn't have been much earlier before I was brought here... Therefore I had to be about eighteen, nineteen at most.

In any case, I didn't stay in bed all that long. It was perhaps only a week before I had to resume my work - I was a maid at Lady Mariah's manor. My duties were the usual sort - clean this, scrub that, wash the laundry and hang it out to dry, cook the breakfast in the morning, and so on. Naturally, I wasn't the only maid in the building, so my presence wasn't vital, but I did receive enough of the tasks to be completed for my absence to be missed and my return to duty to be encouraged.

I knew at that point I preferred to have at least a few more days to spend in bed By the end of the first day of resuming the housework I felt dizzy upon descending the stairs that lead to the servants' quarters. Still, I can't say I felt all that bad, and eventually the dizziness passed and I thought I was back to normal again...

xxx

_-...I trust you will occupy yourself with this case?_

_- Actually, no. I have entrusted it to miss Jesyll._

_- Entrusting such an interesting case to a novice? I had thought that you would want to..._

_- Exactly, such an interesting case might be just what Miss Jesyll needs to find her own ground. I will, of course, monitor her progress._

xxx

I was at market when I first saw them. It was evening already, dimness setting in over the city, and I was making my weary way through the streets with a heavy basket full of vegetables tugging at my hands. I rounded a corner and someone crashed into me. They resumed their hasty walk immediately without so much as glancing at me, while I was knocked onto the cobblestones, the vegetables pouring out of the basket and all over the street.

I threw a spiteful glance over my shoulder and cried an oath at the retreating figure. Not as if it made any difference... Ignoring my bruises, I started gathering the vegetables back where they belonged. I was on my knees, minded by no one, and when I stretched my hand towards a dusty artichoke several feet away from me...

_There!_

Spotting something before me, I slowly looked up, my heart having taken an unnaturally fast beat seemingly for no reason...Standing in one of those shady alcoves that had naturally appeared sometime during the chaotic construction and reconstruction of the city, was a dark figure, leaning against the wall in a way that was not relaxed, but rather as if it were poised for attack, ready to strike...

xxx

_-...Miss Jesyll is of the opinion the girl is doing quite well._

_- And do you agree with miss Jesyll?_

_- Not entirely. I believe the current state of calm is something akin to stupor... Shock due to the change of surroundings._

_- It will be interesting to see how she will act once she has settled in..._

_- Oh yes, it will be._

xxx

...I could not see it very well, probably owing to the black outfit that blended so perfectly with the evening's shadows... However, I could make out it wore a black tunic with a hood that completely concealed its features, a wide belt clasped at its waist...

The figure, whatever it was, was not looking at me, but rather at something further down the street, watching so intently... And _I_ was watching the figure so intently, full of awe and fear, with my hand still hanging in the air, that it was not until the figure moved that I regained awareness of my surroundings.

For it moved... Slowly and gradually, the figure turned its head to look straight at me, and then became a motionless statue once more. As it turned, I saw its face - or, rather, realised I could _not_, for it wore a mask of strange design... With two round holes for the eyes, and these very holes looked more terrifying than the eyes themselves could've possibly been... The blackness within seemed to burn into my very soul.

All these thoughts flitted through my head in an instant, for the very moment our gazes locked, I made a frantic grasp at the vegetable my hand had been hovering above for what had seemed an eternity, thrust the artichoke back into the basket, regained my feet and, leaving whatever vegetables were still on the cobblestones, hurried away, not pausing to think about in which direction I needed to go... I just wanted to get away from that _thing_. I struggled will all my will not to break into a run, and limited myself to a very fast walk, even though I kept tripping and felt sure that any moment I would fall again, and upon looking up spy that creature.

I was sure I would not dare to look back, for I dreaded that I would see the thing still watching me as intently as whatever it had been watching before it sighted me, or, worse yet, would see it a step behind me, following me.

And yet I still looked back... As I rounded a corner, I stole a glance backward at the alcove, and saw it empty. Later I doubted that my eyesight could have told me for sure in the evening's dimness, but at that moment I was certain the thing was not there anymore. Nor was it to be seen anywhere else. That struck me unexpected and scared me far worse than anything else.

It took me ages to get back to my lady's manor, for I was sure only to travel well-lit paths, which in the evening was rapidly growing difficult... I had also made several laps, hoping to lose the creature in case it was stalking me... On one hand, I felt very foolish and shamed myself after I was scolded for my long absence at the manor, on the other, I was still chilled to the bones by the sight of those black holes...

That was when the madness began.

xxx

_- I must admit miss Jesyll handled the situation pretty well today._

_- Yes. She reacted quickly and without hesitation._

_- How long does she plan to keep the subject restrained?_

_- Two days, after that she plans to act depending on the state._

_- A truly interesting case... I don't believe we've treated a subject with hallucinations like that before..._

_- And a murderer no less. It is easy to see how the two are linked together... She is very excitable._

_- When you say that, I know you mean unstable._

_- Yes, I do._

_- I'm thinking dry heat therapy should work well._

_- Agreed. However, I will let miss Jesyll come up with that._

_- Of course._

xxx

Very soon, I could no longer remember how it had been without those things. Whenever I left the house I was sure I would see them watching me from the shadows, as the very first had been, still as statues, yet ready to pounce... It seemed impossible that the strange encounter would never be repeated, that I would never see any of those creatures again...

And impossible it was. Days, or perhaps weeks after the first incident, when I was _beginning_ to doubt myself, I saw them again, under yet more peculiar circumstances...

It was broad daylight, an hour or so before noon. I was walking back to the manor after having completed an errand, following the flow of people in the narrow street. The sun was glaring into my eyes, and for a moment I actually allowed myself to think that my eyesight was playing tricks with me as two of them passed me, almost within touching distance.

I did not dare look directly at them... Yet several seconds later, I slowed my pace to look back. For a moment, it was as if time had slowed; before my eyes lay the street, hazy with sunlight, and I saw the steady rhythm of the moving crowd, and in the midst of it, those two creatures, two patches of black as vivid as blood on the snow, yet no one seemed to notice them, and the creatures themselves somehow avoided all contact with the citizens...

As if sensing my gaze, one of the creatures turned to look at me. For the shortest, briefest instant, my eyes met another pair of those black holes. Next I was pulled sharply from my reverie as some man I had almost walked into shoved me aside.

I hurried back towards the manor, this time not bothering to take any precautions... somehow I knew it wouldn't pay off. A feeling of dread pulled like a dead weight in my chest, and I couldn't help feeling that turning around to look at them _this_ time was a very wrong thing to do...

Those creatures _chilled_ me. And I did not understand why it was only _me_ who could see them...

I gasped and for a moment stopped dead in my tracks as comprehension dawned. Several seconds later, when the numbness had subsided enough for me to use my limbs again, I let my unsteady legs carry me into the manor and into the kitchen to report the errand as completed. As if in a dream, I recalled listening as I received another task... Yet my mind was elsewhere...

What have I gotten myself into? Obviously the reason nobody else saw those creatures was that nobody was _meant_ to see them. Yet I _could_ see them. And they knew I could.

At that moment, I decided that whenever I came across any shadows in the future, I would avoid them and look the other way and pretend I couldn't see anything... I prayed to whatever gods were listening that it was not too late, and that they would not come for me, now that they were certain...

xxx

_- Has she been moved into the White Ward?_

_- Yes. Miss Jesyll admitted the patient should have been sent there straightaway._

_- Indeed. A case like that... Have you any theories on what had been transpiring beneath her psyche at the time?_

_- Several. It is probable that she committed the murder under the impression that she was actually protecting the victim from the imaginary attacker..._

_- That would make sense._

xxx

I kept true to my oath of avoiding all possible contact with these unknown entities. Yet I could not fight down a constant feeling of disquiet... My sleep became troubled, and in my dreams I faced the creatures. They would pursue me through the twisted alleyways of an alien city, or sometimes through some dark maze with shifting walls and moving shadows. They were always one step ahead of me and no matter where I tried to hide, they were always waiting. Every now and then the mask would come off... Sometimes a hideous, malformed face was revealed, sometimes the thing would have no face, but an impenetrable darkness beneath that hood.

To make matters worse, I quickly became known as highly paranoid, which displeased my mistress. The fact that I became less effective with my chores did nothing to improve that...

xxx

_- ...It is also likely she committed the murder in a fit of excitement, and was so shocked by what she had done that she eventually convinced herself it was the imaginary assailant._

_- That seems more plausible, all things considered._

_- You are, as always, very thorough in your work. Obviously you did not neglect to read the reports of the other members of the household._

_- Yes, I have read them. The other maids are of the opinion she had been highly on edge before the incident. They recall it had started sometime after she had been ambushed and knocked unconscious by some thug while out in the streets... That was approximately two months ago.That was when the brain damage had probably occurred._

_- Actually, I'm inclined to believe it was the murder that pushed her over the borderline._

_- Perhaps._

xxx

I remember the day it all ended..

I was inside the manor, patching up some clothes. The evening's shadows were growing too deep for my liking, yet I pretended there was nothing to be seen in them. As the bluish haze of the evening slowly crept into the air, I remembered the instructions I had been given earlier that day. I rose and headed for the yard, where the laundry had been hanging out to dry during the day and now had to be collected. As I traversed the yard, I walked in the same manner I had acquired since seeing those creatures - with my eyes right before me, avoiding looking at anything I saw out of the corner of my eye, hoping not to attract any trouble.

I removed a large white sheet from where it had been hanging and had already started folding it... I could not help but look straight forward, into the face of the person who obviously had just come over the wall.

He was wearing black, like those creatures, and a hood, all lined with strange symbols... Yet even though I could see he had no mask and could partly make out a wrinkled, human face, I knew he was connected with those things that haunted me no matter if I was asleep or awake...

The man took several steps towards me, raising his hands to show he was unarmed, in a futile effort to reassure me...

- Aleta, - he said, - I can assure you we mean you no harm. We wish...

- _Get away from me!_ - I yelled, dropping the laundry and backing away a few steps. -_ I don't want to have anything to do with you!_

With that, I ran back into the house as fast as my trembling legs would carry me. I sprinted upstairs for no particular reason other than a frantic, animal-like urge to flee. I dashed through several rooms, leaving the doors swinging wildly behind me and several other maids staring at me with expressions of alarm... I wanted to run, I did not want to have anything to do with those creatures or those men in dark hoods, I did not care about how they knew my name, but it scared me, and I wanted to run...

I entered an empty, dark room, and then stopped as if I had hit a stone wall. It was as if the sudden feeling of anticipation had frozen me in my tracks...

I stood trembling, with the sound of my pounding heart filling my head, and in front of me I could see a strip of light pouring through a half-open door... As I held my own breath, for a moment I heard a dreadful sound - quiet, but dreadful. It was nothing more than a gasp of surprise... and pain... After that, a wheezy moan as air was blown from the lungs for the last time... And then... nothing.

Suddenly recovering from my trance, I dashed forward and saw Lady Mariah slumped down in her chair, blood trickling down down her back from a precise, deadly wound just below her neck... And as my gaze flitted over to the open window, for the shortest moment I saw it - two black hands still gripping the windowpane, and the masked, hooded face hovering slightly above them, dark holes that briefly made contact with my eyes before the fingers relaxed their grip, and the creature disappeared into darkness.

I approached the window and leaned over, hoping I would somehow be able to see the assassin in the evening darkness... The afterimage of the crimson blood and the limp body of my mistress still danced in my eyes and I felt sick. Sick and dizzy... Slowly my muscles relaxed, and I wanted to lean further in and fall - fall, crush into sweet, dark oblivion, away from the dark entities and strangers who knew me by name...

_-There she is!_

Someone grabbed me by my hair and yanked me back into the room. Like an owl in daylight I blinked in confusion as I regarded the several servants and maids surrounding me, and the guard that held me in his grip...

_- Murderer!_

For some reason, that word kept ringing in my ears... At that moment, I realised...

- No! - I cried, - No, NO! I didn't do it!

- Call the City Watch, - the guard said to one of the maids, who nodded grimly and departed. - They can listen to your lies, murderer!

The maids and servants stood around me, all regarding me with different expressions... One looked at me with incomprehension, another with pity... And the pity in those faces doubled as I told them over and over again who had done the murder, until I was out of breath and could only gasp chaotic shreds of sentences, and then I fainted.

xxx

_- It will be a complicated process, yet we should be able to reduce the damage to a minimum... assuming miss Jesyll doesn't spoil her._

_- There is no reason to assume she will, though. She has been handling well enough was has proved to be a difficult case._

_- Yes, she has._


End file.
